In addition to blocking blinding glare, Polarized Lenses can also help you to see better by improving contrast and visual comfort and acuity. When we spend time outdoors, glare and reflections are literally all around us, even bouncing off particles in the air. When we remove all this unwanted “visual noise” by putting on a pair of Polarized Lenses, our vision is improved beyond just removing dangerous blinding glare. Colour and depth perception is improved, along with clarity and contrast of objects. Photographers have known this secret for years and often use polarizing filters to achieve bolder colours and deeper contrast in their photographs (in addition to removing glare, of course).

What is glare?

Light waves travel in all directions: some light travels in horizontal waves, while others travel in vertical waves. When light hits a surface, typically light waves are absorbed and/or reflected in a random manner. However, if light hits a reflective surface (such as water, snow, even cars or buildings) at just the right angle, some of the light becomes "polarized". This means that vertical light waves are absorbed while horizontal light waves bounce off the surface, creating glare.

What is a Polarized Lens?

Polarized Lenses contain millions of parallel rows of tiny iodine crystals or dichroic dyes (so small they can’t be seen with the naked eye) that act in a manner similar to venetian blinds. Like venetian blinds, the horizontal rows of iodine crystals contained within the polarized lens block out horizontal polarized light waves, letting only (non-polarized) vertical light waves reach the eye. This results in comfortable vision with no glare, and is the reason why only a polarized lens can block glare.